Brushstroke Lillies
by Falcongod
Summary: Raven held the kerosene soaked rag gently in her hand. It had endured much aging since that day she helped repair Cyborg's baby, but she found comfort in returning to it from time to time. It spoke to her now of the passion of Nature. "Hush little one," she cooed motherly. "We must not speak of Terra now. We must not even mention our thoughts of her. It has been forbidden."
1. Chapter 1

**Prologue:** **Where time abandons the lonesome to forlorn pasts.**

Raven held the kerosene soaked rag gently in her hand. It had endured much aging since that day she helped repair Cyborg's baby, but she found comfort in returning to it from time to time. It spoke to her now of the passion of Nature.

"Hush little one," she cooed motherly. "We must not speak of Terra now.

We must not even mention our thoughts of her. It has been forbidden."

At that, she carefully furled up the cloth as if it were the night time sky watching over one of her most perfect of days, and restored it to its resting place beside her diary.

She left her room quietly, an unadorned book drawn close to her chest, and she put much effort into appearing as if nothing had just happened.

In the kitchen Robin spoke to Starfire in a language unknown to Man, but she did not fall for this ruse and refused to kiss him so easily.

Changing tactics, Robin turned away and mulled "Did you notice how Raven shuffled slowly past us in the hallway yesterday? Clearly, she has unwittingly fallen in love."

Starfire snaked her arms around Robin and thrust the side of her head against the small of his back.

"That is the most wonderful news!" she exclaimed. "Does she have the crushing on Beastboy? It was the two yesterdays ago that I saw him wandering the streets with his eyes positively full of _okarins_."

"Yes," Robin purred as he pirouetted around to return Starfire's embrace. "It must be the two of them in love. What else could explain such potent silence between them?"

* * *

The cave's scenery rose up to surround Beastboy like antique frescoes upon an earthen landscape. He stood weakly in that abandoned place with a bouquet of empty promises clenched within his hand.

"Where is she?" he wondered. He thought of asking the stalactites where Raven had gone off to, but knew better than that. The stalagmites were much more familiar with her comings-and-goings. Unfortunately, they refused to associate with him on principal.

"I did not mean for things to end so badly" he murmured, but they would hear none of it.

"No one could ever blame you for Terra's death, or her disappearance." whispered Raven from behind him.

The suddenness of her voice drew Beastboy back to the melancholy of their situation. He made no movement to address Raven, but instead clasped the flowers tighter in his hand. Brushstroke lilies they were, Terra's longtime favorite.

"Have the others come?" he asked carelessly.

Raven's reply matched the monotone of Beastboy's voice.

"They've found ways to busy themselves ahead of time. This particular anniversary is more meaningful to you than to them."

Select memories returned to Beastboy of his day with Terra at those abandoned fairgrounds. Even after so much time, such recollections were always close within his reach.

"So why are you here? This date doesn't hold much meaning for you either."

Raven stuttered. She pulled some stray hairs away from her face. She may have wanted to see Beastboy's eyes at that moment, but she did not say so.

"Time is well wasted on some people. It shows your feelings for them." She paused. "That's why you're here for Terra." Another pause, shorter this time. "I respect you for that, so I wanted to support you."

Unbeknownst to Raven, a smile had slyly crept upon Beastboy's face. "Thank you," he said.

He then kneeled beside their makeshift altar for Terra and laid down the lilies, staying on his knees to whisper a simple prayer or perhaps to make one last confession to her.

A few moments passed, and soon Beastboy felt Raven's presence kneeling beside him. They stayed that way for quite some time. One cannot know how long, for time moves too unpredictably in these matters.

They were very close at that moment.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter One: The deadliest winter begins with a whisper of hope.**

Jump City was a triumph of industry and the modern lifestyle. It invited its citizens to live quickly, bravely and without abandon. The children leaped into adulthood, the adults rushed back to their teenage days, and the teens flirted with death. People like Terra were a dime-a-dozen there, everyone was a dime-a-dozen there. Even a voice as strong as hers could not surface in a city of such life, but echoes of it will always resound.

Such an echo found its way to Raven in the form of a butterfly hairclip. They were mass produced in Indonesia and sold at a plethora of Jump City outlet stores, but each purchase was trackable in some way, and Terra had worn one once. Perhaps she had wanted to wear one again, it would fit Terra to become attached to something so plain and understated in its beauty. Whether by salesmen or by receipts, Raven knew this formed the beginning of a path which, though virtually imperceptible, could lead to her onetime rival and friend.

Raven approached Robin with this idea, but he laughed it off. "Isn't it about time you and Beastboy came to terms about Terra?" Raven scoffed at this, as well as at his further insinuations about her feelings for Beastboy, but she realized that she would need to find someone else's to help track down the specific outlets which sold the hair ornament.

* * *

Cyborg was sitting cross-legged in the garage on that lazy afternoon. The weather held too much malice in its gaze to go out that day, and he could think of nothing more to improve on his car. Beastboy had busied himself in sulking over Terra, so Cyborg occupied himself by aimlessly twirling one of his socket wrenches around in his hand. It was a purposeless pursuit, but it gave him great comfort to think of how so simple a tool had once helped save his life.

Raven bursted into the room, but that was no surprise. She was the only one that Cyborg trusted with the T-car, and they would often whittle the day away performing maintenance on the famed machine. In truth, the thought of Raven with tusseled up hair and an oil stained cheek flustered Cyborg in a way that he'd be ashamed to admit, but he'd never dare mention such silly notions to Raven. Cyborg still felt oddly betrayed from when Robin sang rumors to him about Raven and Beastboy kissing in a tree.

"Are you busy?"

"Nah, just thinking..." His voice trailed off.

"Good, I have a favor to ask of you," she said in a blunt voice.

Cyborg's ears pricked up. "Sure, what do ya need?"

"I need you to create inventory databases for all the stores in Jump City and make a list of all the ones that sell this type of hairclip." She flicked the cutesy hair ornament onto Cyborg's lap.

Cyborg took a moment to process all this. "So you haven't given up Terra yet, huh?"

Raven was annoyed by this slightly, but her expression didn't give away a thing. "Can you do it?"

A deep sigh from the demi-robot, but he quickly regained his usual enthusiasm. "Of course, I can. So we'll be working together on this project then?"

"Yes, but we'll have to keep it a secret from Beastboy. I would like it to be a surprise for him." she said demurely.

"Boo-yeah! That's a great idea, ... for Beastboy I mean. He'll love it."

Raven smiled at seeing her surrogate brother's happiness. The incredible bond between Cyborg and Beasboy never ceased to amaze her, even if it did cause her much grief at times.

"Good," She said. "Then we should get started immediately."


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Two:** **The demon face to be found within a cloudy sky**

Cyborg's robotic eye scanned the merchandise in the old Mom and Pop store. It consisted mostly of nameless trinkets who seemed related to each other by no more than their age and decrepit condition. Each piece had no place in standing on the same shelf as the others, but even in that cornucopia of niceties, Terra's trademark hair ornament was not to be found. Cyborg muttered a word of thanks to the owners and purchased a snow globe on the checkout counter out of pure politeness. This project of Raven's was really starting to cost him.

Meanwhile, Raven played the role of a lamppost, except without the warmth or bright demeanor. Her mind had fluttered back to the memories of Malchior, though she didn't really know why. Terra's betrayal was brief and followed by unquestioned repentance. Not at all like Malchior who left no morsels of her heart behind. In times of night when no dream offer themselves to her, Raven would still weep openly upon being spurned by that dragon. No, not spurned, that would imply the dark wizard ever valued her. Deceived, manipulated, used; those better described that all too familiar feeling of helplessness which made her chest seize up with anxiety and steal the words right off of her tongue. A tear trickled down Raven's cheek, but she knew it was well hidden beneath her hood and thus made no effort to wipe it away when she saw Cyborg leaving the store.

"How'd the search go?"

A groan from Cyborg. And then- "Fruitless again, but I was in there so long that I felt guilty leaving without buying anything."

He tossed the souvenir callously to her.

Raven turned the gift over slowly in her hands. It featured a young girl sleeping wistfully in the boughs of an unadorned Christmas tree. The child was an orphan, by choice if not by circumstances, and it showed in her scuffled clothing and. Of course, the girl was not aware of Santa sneaking up behind her with a bag of presents.

"For me? Kinda an odd thing to buy in the middle of summer."

Cyborg laughed at this. "I guess-so. I didn't even get a discount on it either. But whatever. C'mon, we should keep doing if we ever want to finish this."

To this, Raven stoutly agreed, though she still gave the snow globe great consideration as they continued on. Down the streets they went, and into the next shop on a laundry list of stores that might eventually lead to Terra.

Cyborg went in, Raven stayed behind; thinking of Terra this time. She pulled the snow globe level with her eyes and once more thought of the little girl who was trapped within it. The action of lifting it up had caused a snowstorm to stir up around the picturesque child, and Raven came to the sad realization that the girl would likely freeze to death before ever waking up unto her good fortune.

Moments later, Raven hurried into the store to help Cyborg. If it meant finding Terra even a second sooner, then it was surely worth it.


End file.
